Gautam Gambhir, who led the Delhi team to the finals of the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy last month, has stepped down from the captaincy ahead of the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season. The announcement was made by Gambhir himself, on his Twitter account, on Monday. As per a PTI report, Nitish Rana is said to lead the Delhi side.

The left-handed batsman said that it is time to pass the baton to the youngsters. On his Twitter account, Gautam Gambhir tweeted, “Time to pass the captaincy baton to youngsters, hence have requested the DDCA selectors not to consider me for that role. I will be in the background helping the new leader to win games.”

Here’s what Gautam Gambhir said to DDCA President Rajat Sharma:

Time to pass the captaincy baton to youngsters, hence have requested the DDCA selectors not to consider me for that role. I will be in the background helping the new leader to win games @RajatSharmaLive

Gambhir, who is not known to mince words while speaking his minds, said, “India may have won today at Eden, but I am sorry @bcci, CoA &CAB lost. Looks like the No Tolerance Policy against Corrupt takes a leave on Sundays! I know he was allowed to contest HCA polls but then this is shocking...The bell is ringing, hope the powers that be are listening.”

Gautam Gambhir was in fine form recently and he stepping down comes as a surprise. The Delhi southpaw ended the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament as the second-highest run-getter, with 518 runs under his belt. However, with Gambhir not being named in any of India’s A, B, or C squads in the recently concluded Deodhar Trophy and little hope to make a comeback in the Indian team, the 37-year-old decided to step down as a captain.